Thursday, 5 December 2013

The Sierra Nevada

The
Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the South of Spain, Andalucía. The name
means ‘snowy mountain range’. In Spanish ‘sierra’ means the teeth of a saw and
it refers to the peaks of the mountains.

Many
people don’t even know that there’s a huge mountain in South of Spain and it
just happens that this is where you can find the highest point of inland Spain,
the Mulhacén, with a summit of 3478m. The area is also a national park and
there’s even a bio reserve here as well.

Apparently
this is the youngest mountain on Earth. It was born during those amazing times
of the Tierra when the tectonic movements pushed whole continents into each
other and in one of the last of these epic moments the Sierra Nevada was born.
This is the reason that for a while there were elephants living in Spain. Even though you can’t see those anymore there are many
other species that are unique to the mountain and you cannot see them anywhere
else in the world. Don’t get too excited, however, they are mostly plants and
insects.

The
photos here were all taken from the Mirador de Trevéres at 2500m. From here you
can see the sea and on clear days even the coastline of Africa. Behind you lies
the mountain range in its full glory with its peaks reaching over 3000m.

Apart
from the fact that it’s a hiking paradise it has another attraction: there’s a
ski resort here as well! From December to February you can go to this amazing
place which is just an hour from Granada and enjoy skiing or snowboarding for
as long as you (or your wallet) can take it. It gets very busy here as the
whole South of Spain comes here to enjoy the snow.

In
my following blogs you’ll get to see the summit ‘up close’ and I’ll show you
some of the nicest views around it.